Madness: Evangelion Rewired
by Sovereign Beta
Summary: It was supposed to be another way, but now, mysterious beings have intervened in the fate of the pilots. Everything is different now and everyone has changed, but will the ending stay the same? Or can the pilots overcome the challenges they face?
1. Phase 001

Just a little idea I got after reading "NGE: Nobody Dies", which is a marvelous story, to say the least; everybody who's a fan of NGE should probably read it.

BTW: This is a rewrite of the first chapter, as a certain reviewer didn't have a favorable opinion of the original manuscript. Also, in my opinion the second manuscript sucked. So yeah.

Original Japanese dub translation courtesy of Youtube user **oskitsune**.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just this story. Enjoy!

**

* * *

**

Dr. Ritsuko Akagi's words ring in his ears.

"This is humanity's multi-purpose humanoid fighting machine, Evangelion."

Evangelion.

The gigantic yellow lenses stared into his sepia eyes. The long horn rose majestically up to the observation window, and a proud crest flared out around the back of the thing's neck.

The dormant purple-armored titan and the fourteen-year-old schoolboy regarded each other—one without comment for its to-be wielder, the other in awe and fear of his to-be weapon.

Shinji Ikari swallowed, hard, and glanced at the brunette woman, Captain Misato Katsuragi, standing next to him and also staring at the giant robot, but she was completely without fear of any kind.

"No…I can't," he said, shaking slightly. Sweat was prickling the skin of his back. "It's impossible."

He knows his father is glaring down at him through those opaque sunglasses. He knows that once again, weak, pathetic little Shinji has failed. He senses Commander Gendo Ikari's displeasure in his disappointment of a son.

But then again a _true_ father would not ask his son to risk his life in battle against an eldritch abomination currently ravaging Tokyo-3.

Commander Ikari's harsh voice rang out.

"If you're getting in, stop wasting time. Otherwise, just go home!"

Now everybody was staring at him, watching, waiting; wondering if he'd accept and protect them or refuse and abandon them. The bated breath of a hundred technicians rendered the silence literally audible.

A gentle rumble shook the massive LCL-filled cage—and outside, the power of the Third Angel annihilated a city block in an instant.

Gendo scowled. "That bastard's found us."

Another rumble—this one closer; _much_ closer. Shinji could feel the explosion shaking him this time, but still he looked down, hesitant. A cool female voice warning everybody to evacuate drifted from a speaker on the wall.

"Shinji, there's no time," Dr. Akagi stated, setting her jaw.

He grimaced and glanced at Misato.

"Please get in," the other woman said coolly.

Betrayal. He never knew how much it could hurt.

"No way," he mumbled. "After coming all this way…it's _ridiculous_."

Misato sighed and knelt down to his eye level.

"Shinji, why did you come here?" she asked.

His eyes widened slightly before he angrily turned away.

"Don't run away from your father—or above that, yourself!" Misato pleaded.

Shinji had never felt so ashamed of himself. He was being selfish and cowardly, he knew, by refusing to pilot the Evangelion that would save all of them. He was dooming everybody at NERV headquarters to the mercy of an implacable monster.

"I…know."

But he didn't care. All he cared about was that his father was ordering him into a battle with no training, no help, _nothing_. How was he even supposed to fight that Angel thing, anyways?

"But I don't think I can do it!"

Katsuragi looked at him for a moment longer before straightening. Shinji knew she was disappointed in him, too.

Commander Ikari sighed in resignation and turned to the computer screen next to him. He hadn't wanted to use the backup plan, but Shinji had left him with no choice.

"Fuyutsuki," the bearded man said. "Wake up Rei. Is she available?"

Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki considered for a moment. "Well, she's not dead…yet…" he murmured. Then he nodded his affirmation. "I understand."

The communications link blanked, but Gendo was already opening another channel to somebody else.

"Rei?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Shinji refused to pilot. Please try again."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

**Phase 001: Awaken, First Avatar**

Well, he wasn't budging.

Dr. Akagi turned to the Evangelion before her. "Reconfigure Unit-01 for Pilot Ayanami!" she called. "Restart!"

"Yes ma'am," a smooth female voice replied. "I'll stop the current process and restart it."

Ritsuko and Misato moved off to the sides of the platform. When he was sure nobody could notice it, Shinji squeezed his eyes shut and began shaking.

_As I thought; I'm unnecessary._

The clatter of wheels against steel brought Shinji out of his thoughts. The boy looked up to see a team of medics rolling a gurney towards the bridge in front of the Evangelion.

The girl was beautiful.

That was his first impression.

Jaw-length pale blue hair. Ethereally pale skin. Piercing red eyes, one of which was covered with a bandage. She was dressed in a formfitting white catsuit that hugged every curve and dip in her figure. More bandages were wrapped around her forearms, her waist, and her long legs. The medics backed away the moment the gurney was in position.

The girl lifted herself up with her hands, gritting her teeth in clear agony, and swung her legs over the edge of the gurney. She bit back a scream and shuddered violently as her feet crashed down onto the floor.

And then the horror of what he'd done with his refusal clicked in Shinji's head. This injured, half-dead girl was going replace him as the pilot of Unit-01. She was going to die in battle against the Angel because he didn't want to fight.

"STOP!"

The girl froze in clear surprise, staring at him.

Shinji swallowed again but steeled his resolve. "I'll do it," he said firmly. "I'll be a pilot. I don't want this girl getting killed just because there's nobody else."

High in the observation room, a proud smirk played around Gendo's face…

A third explosion rocked the facility, sending rubble from the Geofront roof crashing down into the main base. This time the shock felt like the entire room had momentarily gone horizontal before righting.

Misato and Ritsuko stumbled and grabbed at nearby stanchions; Shinji and the injured girl (who squealed in pain) were both knocked to the ground. And then a section of the roof supports above Shinji twisted, collapsed, and fell straight towards him—

One enormous purple hand erupted out of the LCL and moved above Shinji, shielding the boy from the hailstorm of dozens of tons of metal. Shinji's jaw dropped as he gazed up at the behemoth that had apparently saved him. For a moment he could've sworn there was a momentary brightening of the Evangelion's dull yellow optics…but the giant robot was motionless.

Chatter exploded all around the hangar.

"Unit 01 moved! What happened?"

"It tore off the binding attached to its right arm!"

Ritsuko gaped from Unit-01 to Shinji and back. "Impossible! The entry plug hasn't been inserted yet! It can't move!"

Misato slowly got up from her crouch. "It reacted without the interface…" she breathed. There was another idea, but it was…to be honest, it didn't seem all that preposterous when seen from a nonscientific point of view. "Or rather…did it protect him?"

A hard smile curved her lips. "He can do it."

Shinji shakily got to his feet and rushed over to the girl, gently raising her up off the floor. The other pilot (presumably) hissed in pain and shuddered as he held her.

He glanced back at the Evangelion. Its left eye glowed white-yellow for a second, faded slightly, and then got brighter again. Another glance at the girl showed Shinji that her grimaces of agony were perfectly in tune with the giant robot's optics.

Well, that settled it. There was no way he'd let this girl go into battle as hurt as she was. He raised his hand and saw that his palm was stained with crimson liquid—the girl's blood.

The medics surrounded them and Shinji stood and backed away. He looked up at the Evangelion again, and then hazarded a glance at his father.

"I'll do it," Shinji said again, clenching his fists. "I'll pilot."

* * *

Central Dogma—the primary command center for all operations and missions involving the armored engines of mass destruction known as the Evangelions. There were at least thirty officers in the enormous room, but only three were at the highest level.

"The binding of the right arm has been fixed."

Lt. Maya Ibuki was suitably nervous internally but suitably calm externally. There were, after all, two very high ranking NERV officers standing literally at her shoulders, one of whom she'd been crushing on for the past half year. She had no intention of disappointing in the first battle.

The status readouts on the Evangelion's docking clamps glowed green.

"Position setting for cargo docking is…okay."

And then the readouts went dark.

"The stop signal plug has been discharged."

Outside the command center, in the hangar, Unit 01's head dipped forward and the massive armor plates protecting the back of its neck slid away to reveal an orifice drilled into its spine. The cylindrical entry plug was placed inside by a hydraulic arm and the armor slid back to regain its seamless structure.

"Plug is locked in place. Beginning the first connection."

Shinji kept his eyes locked forward as the walls of the entry plug flashed several different colors.

"Inject LCL into the plug."

And then he yelped in shock as a yellow liquid rose up to engulf his lower body. "What is this stuff?" he cried. The fluid quickly submerged his arms, chest, and neck. Shinji held his breath as the fluid rose above his head all the way to the top of the plug.

Dr. Akagi's voice came over the com-link. "Don't worry. After your lungs fill with LCL, it'll directly supply you with oxygen."

It felt like his chest was about to explode. Shinji couldn't hold his breath for much longer…

"You'll get used to it soon."

His mouth involuntarily opened and escaped air bubbles accelerated up and away. He coughed for a moment, gagged—and then he realized that he wasn't drowning. Amazing stuff, this LCL.

It did, however, have a less than pleasant taste.

"I feel sick," he groaned, shaking his head. His bangs slowly drifted from side to side.

Misato scowled. "Live with it!" she barked. "You're a boy, aren't you?"

That was so unfair…

_Life ain't fair, Ikari. Deal with it._

Shinji raised an eyebrow at the gruff voice in the back of his head, but he dismissed it as some random noise that sounded suspiciously like human speech.

"Transmit power to all circuits," Dr. Akagi ordered, crossing her arms.

"Yes, ma'am," Lt. Ibuki replied, tapping at a few buttons. "Second contact is beginning…"

The walls of the plug began to glow a brilliant rainbow.

"A10 nervous system connectors are operational."

Pinpoints of light appeared that grew to blinding stars that hurtled up and past the command chair. The walls morphed to jet black and then blood-red.

"Set Japanese as the command interface language."

The red incandescence faded away and camera feeds to the outside blinked into existence. More technobabble filtered out of the plug speakers but Shinji wasn't really paying attention to the jargon.

"All initial contacts are correct…"

"Connect the mutual lines."

"Rate of synchronization is…56.7%."

Green confirmation readouts sparkled to life in front of Lt. Ibuki. Ritsuko leaned over the bridge officer (who blushed slightly at the proximity between them), awed at the incredible sync ratio for a first-timer.

"All harmonic values are stable. Everything is under control."

"It'll work," Dr. Akagi confirmed, turning to Misato.

The Evangelion Operations Commander nodded her acknowledgement and turned to the main screen.

"PREPARE FOR LAUNCH!" she shouted.

One by one, Unit 01's clamps dropped off, freeing the armored titan's limbs and torso bit by bit.

"Cancel first through fifteenth safety locks."

The olive drab clamp restraining the Evangelion's front moved back.

"Socket for external power supply is online."

Maya smiled slightly. All was going well, so far. "Roger. Send Unit 01 to the launch pad."

Inside the entry plug, Shinji fluttered his fingers on the butterfly controls and took a deep breath of LCL to calm the jitters in the pit of his stomach.

"It's ready to launch."

This was it. He was going off to battle a—

"LAUNCH!"

The force was like nothing he'd ever felt.

Unit-01 had been moved by a set of rails to the electromagnetically-driven elevator; upon the Evangelion's arrival on the massive platform, the lift energized with a visible crackle of arcing electricity and seemingly disappeared. Unit-01 accelerated upwards from zero to nearly one hundred kilometers per _second_ in a bit over three microseconds. Such an incredible velocity was all too necessary to pass through the Geofront's miles and miles of armoring with any speed, however.

For poor Shinji, it was the equivalent of having a refrigerator dropped on him. He could see the LCL visibly crinkling around him to support his body, but he really couldn't feel any difference.

On Lt. Ibuki's station monitor, Unit 01's lift's icon flashed up the first nineteen layers of the Geofront's armor in a dazzling burst of green pixels, turned a little to account for the slight bend in the elevator shaft, and shot up through the remaining armor layers to the surface.

On the surface, the gigantic Third Angel stomped past a row of office buildings, searching, searching…

**There.**

The square of metal marking the lift entrance began glowing bright red to warn off anybody nearby even as the double sheets of armor retracted—just as Unit-01 rocketed through the portal. The Evangelion slammed to a full stop, its head and shoulders snapping up and down.

The Third Angel cocked its head and observed this strange new challenger.

Inside the entry plug, Shinji began shivering involuntarily as the Angel regarded him—seemingly looking at him in the eye through the Evangelion's thick violet armor.

Inside the command center, the bridge crew could see the two titanic combatants facing each other, neither moving, both sizing up their adversary.

Misato felt a single drop of sweat slide down her back. "Don't die…Shinji…" she whispered.

* * *

Shinji breathed in. Breathed out. Breathed in. Breathed out.

It wasn't working.

Misato's voice crackled through the com-link. "Ready, Shinji?"

"Yes," he said, gritting his teeth.

"Good. Release the final safety locks!"

Huge pylons encasing Unit-01's shoulder fins fell away and the Evangelion slumped out of its restraints.

Ritsuko leaned forward. "Shinji, just think of walking," she urged.

He exhaled. "Right. Walking…"

Unit-01 slowly raised its right foot up and up and set it back down, moving the purple behemoth forward a step.

It was a step that shook the entire city block.

It was a step that shattered a phone booth and nearly tore a small tree in half.

But it was a step nonetheless.

He couldn't keep himself from grinning as the cheers of the command crew filtered through the com-link.

"Walking…"

Again Unit-01 raised its foot—

At this point the Third Angel had seen enough. The monster darted forward and backhanded the Evangelion, sending the purple titan reeling back. Another blow to EVA-01's chest knocked it to the ground, shaking the cityscape.

Shinji grimaced, shook his head to clear it of any grogginess, and slowly looked up.

The Angel loomed over him, its two birdlike masks glaring balefully down into the Evangelion's external cameras.

"Shinji, hurry! Stand up quickly!"

He was shaking in terror now, unable to so much as breathe.

One enormous hand descended upon the Evangelion's head and the Third Angel lifted its downed opponent off its feet. The monster took a moment to study its captive—and then it grabbed EVA-01's left arm…

…and _pulled_.

Shinji screamed as his left arm was ripped in two—

"Shinji, calm down! It's not really your arm!"

No.

No. A glance at his arm showed that it was still in one piece, still attached to his body—and yet it felt as if…

Outside, the Angel's massive shoulder muscles bulged outwards as it jerked Unit 01 one way and the Evangelion's left arm another. With a sickening _pop_ noise the purple titan's arm gave, loosening and tearing within its armor.

By this point, Shinji couldn't even get enough air into his lungs to scream. He looked up with tear-filled eyes directly into the Angel's palm.

If it had had the necessary facial structures to, the Third Angel would've been smirking triumphantly. Its opponent was captured, injured—defeated. Now there was nothing in the way of—

_Why, hello there._

The Angel's eye sockets widened ever so slightly in utter horror.

**Oh…crap…**

Without warning Unit-01's undamaged right arm shot up and grabbed the Angel's arm—and then it was the monster's turn to scream in agony as the Evangelion jerked its hand sideways, tearing the Angel's arm in two at the elbow.

The Third Angel lurched back, clutching at its bleeding stump, even as Unit 01 dropped back onto its feet and almost casually got back up.

Inside the entry plug, Shinji saw text scroll down the viewscreens.

_User: Subject_Shinji_Ikari._

_Avatar: A01 (Hank)._

_Authorization acquired? Y/N?_

_Y._

_Authorization acquired._

_Unreality generator activated._

_Subject_E01 emulated._

_Level_6_asskicking[epic] in Termination minus 3…2…1…_

Unit-01 threw its head back and let out a defiant metallic howl at the stars. It had a job to do, and this Angel upstart was in the way.

All Shinji could do was clutch at his paralyzed left arm and wonder what the hell was going on. He could hear the chatter of the bridge crew through the com-link, but the pain made it difficult to understand them.

The Third Angel uttered a low snarl of pain and frustration, glowering at the Evangelion before it.

**What...are...you?**

_Somebody who wants you dead._

The Evangelion launched itself forward, diving at the Third Angel's throat with its good arm. The monster skipped back and its eyes glowed in preparation to launch a beam—

Unit-01 rotated on its palm, spinning its entire body around and sending its left boot directly into the Angel's face with a loud _crunch_. The Evangelion followed up by grabbing the Angel in midair and slamming the monster sideways into a building.

A second kick tossed the disoriented bird-masked giant to the asphalt. Unit-01 leaped atop the Angel and began smashing its purple-armored fists into its opponent's head and chest, the Evangelion's broken arm apparently completely healed.

Through now somewhat bloody viewscreens, Shinji watched Unit-01's hands grab the Angel's ribs and tear the bones right out of the monster's chest. The Third Angel screamed again, clutching at the ragged holes in its chest.

Unit 01 was unmoved by the Angel's howling. It raised its arms and hurled them downwards, slamming the Angel's ribs against the monster's red crystalline core. Again and again the sharp bones stabbed down into the crimson jewel, making the Angel shudder in agony with strike after devastating strike.

A single hairline fracture appeared in the core.

The Third Angel feebly raised its remaining arm to ward off yet another blow, and got its wrist impaled by Unit-01's makeshift weapons for its trouble. Annoyed, the Evangelion released the ribs and backhanded the Angel's skewered arm away.

Shinji could sort of feel his left arm again. He cringed as he slowly let go of his arm and a twinge of pain shot up to his shoulder.

"Did…did we win?" he croaked, glancing at the visual com-link feed mounted to his right side.

The screen didn't activate.

"Misato? Are you there? Can you hear me?"

There was no response.

_I blacked out the com-link. Just saying._

Shinji slowly rotated his head back to the main feed of Unit 01's external cameras. Lying before him was the broken, battered body of the Third Angel.

"What are you?" he asked calmly. The pain was almost gone now.

_I go by the name Hank. I'm an Avatar._

"Oh." Shinji shifted his head slightly. "Okay…"

_Well, it's nice to meet you too. _The mental voice sounded almost sarcastic. _But let's get back to business._

Unit-01's eyes flashed blazing phosphorus white and the Evangelion raised both of its fists high into the air. For a single second the purple hands remained airborne; and then they slammed down onto the core. The Third Angel groaned and shuddered at the impact, its arm and stump flopping slightly.

A blast of steam issued from the Evangelion's nostrils, and the purple titan raised its first for the final hammer blow...

**Too slow.**

The Third Angel's supposedly skewered and incapacitated right arm flashed out and connected with the Evangelion's side, knocking the purple titan off. The monster got up from its prone position as new tissue began growing from its arm stump. EVA-01 managed to land on its feet, but even then it still skidded backwards fifty feet.

_Damn._

"What happened?" Shinji cried, gaping at the approaching monster that he'd thought defeated by the Evangelion. "Isn't it dead?"

**I'm not quite done yet, daughter of Lilith.  
**

Unit 01 flipped away as the Third Angel bum-rushed it, using a newly regenerated left arm to ram into and through the building the Evangelion had been in front of moments before. The Angel growled and turned around to face Unit-01.

**I am the first of the fourteen messengers of The Almighty Father.**

**I am Sachiel. **

**I am the Angel of Water.**

**I am the flood that will wash the Earth of the filth and decadence that you call a civilization.**

**Yield, for I am your watery doom.**

The Evangelion uttered a low growl and stepped back.

_Time for plan B._

"R-right," he muttered nervously. "Wait—what's plan B?"

The front section of Unit-01's left shoulder fin popped open and a gigantic handle snapped out. In one smooth motion, the purple titan drew the giant-robot-sized combat knife and pressed a button on the handle, extending a broad, glowing blade. Shinji could see thousands of tiny teeth oscillating around the edge of the knife.

_THIS is plan B. Progressive knife for the win, bitch!_

And Unit-01 charged.

* * *

Central Dogma was in an uproar.

"Unknown energy anomaly is saturating the solenoid crystals of Unit-01's core! Unidentified energy is boosting Eva's AT Field!"

"Pilot vital signs are fluctuating!"

"Unit-01 isn't responding to any signals!"

"Synchronization is at 85.6% and rising!"

"For a first-timer? Impossible! Check your readings!"

"I already did! Sync ratio is now at 87.9%!"

"Unit-01 has drawn its progressive knife!"

"What? We haven't even told Shinji about that weapon yet!"

"Sync ratio is holding steady at 90.0%!"

"Unit-01 is engaging the Angel!"

Misato just stared, slack-jawed, as EVA-01 and the Third Angel danced around the city street in a deadly game of strike-block-counterstrike. So far it was a tie.

So far.

"Is Shinji still in control of Unit-01?" she snapped, crossing over to Lt. Ibuki's station.

Maya swallowed at the harsh tone before responding. "Yes, ma'am. Pilot Ikari is still in full control of Unit-01."

* * *

An enormous Angelic fist passed what seemed like centimeters from the end of the Evangelion's nose.

"Holy—!"

Shinji's cry of shock and fear was cut off as Unit-01 lunged forward, throwing a punch at the Angel. The monster backhanded the strike aside and countered with a left hook that the Evangelion sidestepped.

The Third Angel stepped back and both combatants circled each other, watching, waiting for an error or an opening. And then the Angel raised its arms and twin sharp-looking spikes erupted through its palms. Its eye sockets glowed in preparation to fire a beam attack.

Unit 01 just lifted its middle finger in a crystal clear message of what it thought of the Angel's display of power.

In response, a blinding pillar of silver-white radiance lanced towards Unit-01 and the Evangelion gracefully slid out of the way, leaving the beam to annihilate everything behind the purple titan. The Third Angel followed up its attack with a flurry of stabs from its arm spikes.

The Evangelion dodged the first, battered away the second, and grabbed the third, rotating and tossing the Angel over its shoulder. The monster crashed mask first into the asphalt and fell over sideways onto its back.

Five seconds passed and still the Angel did not get up, but Unit 01 was unimpressed. The Evangelion flipped its knife up into a loose forward grip and chucked it at the Third Angel's exposed core.

The Angel's arm flashed up and caught the blade—

**AGHHHH!**

The progressive knife carved through the skin of the Third Angel's hand, through the flesh beneath, and out through the other side, and buried itself to the hilt directly into the core.

The Angel writhed in pain for a second, gripped the handle, tried to rip it out—and dove at Unit 01, trying to take the Evangelion with it in its final act. Unit 01 just barely avoided the Angel's desperate grab—

For a single instant, a midnight sun bloomed in downtown Tokyo-3. An enormous mushroom cloud flared up, instantly shrouding the cross-shaped starburst that marked the passing of the Third Angel.

Inside Central Dogma, the command crew watched with horrified eyes as Unit 01 disappeared into the explosion. Misato swallowed and balled her hands into fists.

"Shinji…" she whispered. Then she forced down the guilt. "Scan for the presence of any remaining Angelic matter!"

Lt. Hyuga Makoto jumped to attention and checked his computer. "Sensors are confirming the complete annihilation of the Third Angel."

A moment passed.

"And…and…Unit 01?"

Silence.

Suddenly a massive, familiar silhouette materialized in the rapidly fading dust cloud. Cheers erupted in the command center as the Evangelion raised its armored fist in victory.

"Unit-01's nervous system signature detected! Shinji's alive!"

Misato sagged slightly, relieved. "Hell yes," she whispered, smiling. "Shinji, can you hear me?"

More silence.

"Shinji…Shinji? Are…are you okay?"

The visual feed of Unit-01's com-link blinked to life and the boy was revealed to be sprawled over his seat, presumably knocked unconscious by the Angel's explosive destruction. Other than that, though, Shinji was apparently uninjured.

"Send retrieval out for Unit 01."

"Unit-01 is still walking towards the elevator, ma'am."

"What? That's impossible! Shinji's unconscious!"

Dr. Akagi pursed her lips. "Lt. Ibuki, check Shinji's brain activity."

"Ma'am," Maya replied, bringing up the appropriate readings. "Pilot Ikari is currently in REM sleep. That's all the readouts are saying; something's blocking the sensors from detecting anything else."

"Are the sensors detecting neural activity fluctuations?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Lt. Aoba, is that energy anomaly fluctuating?"

"Yes ma'am," Lt. Shigeru Aoba replied, catching the nuance of the doctor's question. "And yes, the anomaly is in perfect synchronization with pilot Ikari's brain activity."

Misato glanced at Dr. Akagi. "You think something else's controlling Unit 01, Rits?" the operations director asked.

"That much should be obvious," Ritsuko said, staring intently into the advancing Unit-01's yellow optics. "As you said about thirty seconds ago, Shinji's unconscious."

High up at the Central Dogma commander's station, Commander Gendo Ikari leaned back in his chair. Fuyutsuki glanced down at his boss and former protégé.

"Your son's exceeded my expectations, Ikari," the sub-commander muttered. "Don't you think you've underestimated the boy?"

Gendo smirked. "No. I was expecting this to happen," the supreme commander of NERV said. "Even so…I'm proud of him. Shinji didn't run away; he stood and he fought. That's all that counts."

* * *

Well, that's Chapter 1. I've got no idea how the improved manuscript worked out, though.

Hank will physically appear next time, so don't criticize me for introducing Madness Combat into NGE without even showing MC's characters.

Review, please?


	2. Phase 002

Because last chapter was about as legitimate a chapter as much as Pinocchio is a legitimate human, Ch. 2 was completed double-time. I still think it sucks.

Translated dialogue from Veoh user **AndrewSaurus19**.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

I only own this story. Enjoy!

**M: ER~**

Shinji woke up to the gentle noises of hospital equipment and the dagger-sharp odor of antiseptic. The boy groaned as pain spiked through his forehead.

"Where…where am I?" he muttered, cracking an eye open. "OH HOLY MOTHER OF—"

_Shut UP, Ikari._

A terrifying visage loomed over him—red sunglasses, black bandages covering the lower half of the grievously mutilated oval-shaped face, and a black headband wrapped around a bullet hole. The torso was nothing more than a simple grey domed cylinder clad in bloodstained bandages and a black trench coat, and the clenched hands and black domed boots were separate from the main body.

He shrank away, eyes wide. "What the…who are you?"

_I'm the guy who helped you against that Angel. Remember the voice in Unit 01?_

At that, Shinji relaxed slightly. "Yeah, I remember," he replied, still unable to tear his gaze from the thing's bloody mouth—or lack of said portion of its face. "Your name is Hank, right?"

_Glad to see your concussion isn't too bad._

"Concussion?" Shinji asked, raising an eyebrow. "What happened after you stabbed the Angel? All I remember is this blinding light and then everything went dark…"

_It self destructed, explosively. You were knocked out and I had to drag your sorry behind back to the elevator, and now here I am, watching over you. It was pretty damn boring, by the way._

"I'm sorry," he sighed. He slowly sat up, noting that he was naked from the waist up. "And…thanks. For…for fighting the Angel. For protecting me."

_Ha! I didn't do anything direct. You beat the Third Angel, Ikari, not me. And you did it fair and square._

"But…_you_ were fighting the Angel," Shinji frowned, scratching his head and cringing at another jab of pain. "I just watched."

_You think too little of yourself, Ikari. One day I won't be around to help, and you'll find out just how powerful you really are then._

The thought of not having this Hank entity around to help him fight the Angels somehow terrified Shinji. He could still remember those two nightmare masks glaring down at his fallen Evangelion and the feeling of his arm being snapped in half like a Pocky stick—

The noise of tramping boots erupted from somewhere beyond the door. Both Shinji and the Hank entity whirled around at the noise.

_Crap! I gotta go! Later, Ikari! I'll be in Unit 01 if you need me!_

"Mr. Hank, wait—!" Shinji was cut off as Hank disappeared in a swirling vortex and a team of nurses burst through the door.

As clipped medical chatter drifted into his ears and Shinji was gently but forcibly made to lie back down, he wondered.

About the battle with the Angel.

About that girl he'd seen being rolled towards EVA-01.

About why he'd even chose to come back to his father.

Meh. He could figure it all out later…

**M: ER~**

**Phase 002: He's Different Now…Or Not**

"What a mess," Misato commented, leaning back in the driver's seat. "The Angel did quite a number on the city when it self-destructed."

"Two point fifty-three square kilometers of downtown Tokyo-3, to be exact," Ritsuko replied, taking a sip from her coffee mug—and promptly spitting the searing brown liquid back out. "Gah, hot."

"That's why I drink beer," Misato chuckled. "Yebisu doesn't try to burn off your tongue."

"Yeah, well, coffee doesn't try to make you sex up your best friend," Ritsuko retorted, unconsciously rubbing the faded hickey on her shoulder.

Misato snorted. "You were drunk too, you know."

The two were supervising the recovery of EVA-01 from where it had keeled over onto an apartment building that had miraculously survived the Angel's explosive death. The entry plug had been ejected and an unconscious Shinji recovered, but the purple titan was a lot less easy to retrieve, considering that EVA-01 weighed approximately 25,000 customary tons. The construction crews shanghaied into the job were currently attempting to lift the Evangelion out of the rubble. Katsuragi and Akagi, on the other hand, got to sit in the retrieval truck in all its air-conditioned glory. Post-Second Impact Japanese summers were a fiery bitch.

The enormous yellow lifting crane shuddered with the effort of lifting EVA-01's torso onto the bed of the equally massive truck without the Evangelion's arms swinging against the side of the vehicle, but the construction engine did it in the end. Another crane began moving the purple titan's left leg while the first one picked up the right leg.

"Well, it looks like we're almost done here," Ritsuko remarked, even as the cranes started on EVA-01's arms. "Shall we take a look outside?"

"Do we have too…?"

"Hey, those poor bastards have been out there in the sun for the better part of five hours. We owe them this much, at least. Besides, it wouldn't do much for NERV's public image if we were seen as being too high 'n mighty to associate with the guys on the ground."

"Hey, we save the guys on the ground from the genocidal giant monsters! Isn't that enough?" Misato protested, popping the door open and hopping out anyways.

"By 'we', I'm assuming you're referring to Rei and Shinji," Ritsuko deadpanned.

"The bridge crew does their part, too!"

"The bridge crew is basically a bunch of glorified, button-punching, report-yelling youngsters. And all you ever do is pout, yell, and fill out the standard-issue NERV vest like no body's business. Including mine. Which I'm kind of jealous about."

"I don't pout! Wait, do I?"

"Why else would I point that out?"

Katsuragi made to fire off a cutting remark concerning her best friend's own amount of work pertaining to saving the world, but Ritsuko simply picked up the pace, forcing the shorter-legged Misato to run to keep up.

The foreman spotted them coming and respectfully removed his hard hat and bowed.

"Dr. Akagi, Captain Katsuragi," the foreman said.

Ritsuko waved him off. "No need for any of that formality. I'm Ritsuko and this borderline-alcoholic broad next to me is Misato."

"Hey! I'm not an alcoholic!"

"I said _borderline_, Misato. Sheesh."

The foreman grinned. "Right," he chuckled. "Well, in any case, it's my pleasure to meet both of you, Miss Ritsuko, Miss Misato. I'm Isshin Kurosaki, by the way—call me Isshin."

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Isshin," Ritsuko said. "Now, back to business—how goes the operation?"

"We'll be done in a few minutes," Isshin replied. The man's grizzled face split into a proud smile. "My crew's the best around in Tokyo-3."

"I can tell," Misato said. "The last time this happened, it took a day for another crew just to lift the Evangelion's arm out of the rubble."

He raised an eyebrow. "And I'm cleared to know this why?"

"Because _everybody_ in the vicinity saw," Akagi said.

A shout emanated from the rubble of the building.

"Mr. Kurosaki! We found a survivor!"

The three rush down the crater EVA-01 had occupied mere minutes before to find a large crowd clustered around a section of roofing. The crowd parted to let them through.

Misato orders one of the workers to call for medical help when they see.

Kurosaki grimly puts his hard hat back on.

Ritsuko does her best to not throw up.

The girl is lying in a drying puddle of her own blood. One of her arms is crushed into a flat mush of flesh and bone, and her left leg has been nearly snapped in half. Her left shoulder has been burned nearly to the clavicle. Her right side is impaled by a piece of rebar, and her face is a mass of cuts and bruises.

But, as Akagi overcame her horror and her limited medical training set in, she saw that _the girl is alive_.

One of the tightly shut eyelids fluttered open to reveal a dark brown eye. "M-Mama?" the horrifically mutilated girl whispered.

"Yes, yes, Mama," Akagi choked, desperate to calm the girl.

The girl's mouth twists into a smile turned grotesquely wide by a cut extending from the corner of her mouth. "You're not Mama. Mama died when I was born," she murmured. "My name is Kira Suzuhara, by the way…"

Akagi gasped as the girl coughed up blood.

"Miss Kira, hold on, okay?" Ritsuko pleaded, brushing the girl's brown bangs aside. "Help's on the way."

Kira nodded and closed her eyes. "Okay," the girl whispered. "I have a brother, by the way. His name's Toji."

Toji…Toji…Toji…

The name was familiar somehow, but Akagi couldn't place it. She remembered seeing it somewhere in some random computer screen, but other than that her memory blanked.

"That's nice," Ritsuko said softly, trying to keep the girl conscious with conversation. "What's he like?"

The girl scowled—a gesture incongruent to her massive injuries. "He's an idiot and so's his friend Kensuke," Kira muttered. "But I love him anyways."

Ritsuko smiled weakly.

When the ambulance finally arrived, Ritsuko stepped back to let the paramedics do their job.

Several people had been injured during the first test of EVA-00, when Rei had accidentally tripped and fallen. Further battles with the Angels would likely result in even more casualties.

But this girl was the first Ritsuko had seen—would others be as grievously wounded?

And how much of those casualties would occur she and the pilots and the NERV personnel hadn't been good enough to prevent them?

And how many people would die in the end because of those goddamned Angels?

Misato's shout for her to return to the truck shook Ritsuko out of her reverie.

"Shit," the doctor muttered, shaking her head.

**M: ER~**

Those nurses and their exhortations for him to "take it easy" and "don't strain yourself" and eventually "sedate him" could go straight to hell.

It wasn't like Shinji had let a concussion stop him from moving around _before_.

Well, okay, the shouting contingent of armed personnel chasing after him through the hallways of the hospital was a bit irregular to him, but he could deal with it. It wasn't like anybody could catch him if he didn't let them, either. He'd been shot at before and he was kind of used to being chased by cops anyways.

Parkour may have been an art form, but it was also unbeatable as an escape method.

The boy vaulted over the railing and rolled to dissipate the impact before darting around the corner. He threw himself against the wall to avoid a gurney rushing his way before jumping up and catching hold of the light fixtures just as the security team rounded the corner he'd just passed.

"Where'd he go?" one of the guards shouted, brandishing his gun.

One of the passing doctors slapped down the man's weapon.

"What're you doing waving a gun around?" the doctor snapped. "This is a hospital, numbnuts! We don't like chambered bullets around here!"

The guard sheepishly lowered his pistol to the snickering of his teammates, and the squad continued their search down the corridor. The doctor looked up at Shinji as soon as they were out of sight.

"They never think to look up, do they?" she asked dryly.

"That's because not everybody's a traceur," Shinji replied, dropping down and landing on his toes. "But the fuzz isn't stupid—they're just not trained to deal with people like us."

"Traceur?" the doctor said, raising an eyebrow. "You practice parkour?"

"Yes."

She nodded and pointed a thumb over her shoulder. "Fifth door down—the Commander wants to see you."

Now it was Shinji's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Why would dad want to…?" Then he shook his head. "Alright, thank you, Doctor."

"No problem," she replied, before striding away.

Fifth door down…

It was a matter of ten steps to get there, but just before he grasped the doorknob, Shinji hesitated. His father wasn't the kind of person to socialize—in fact, Shinji could hardly recall the last time he'd spoken casually with his father.

So he chose to knock.

"Enter," his father's gravelly voice called.

Shinji took a deep breath, but he did not enter. "Did you call for me, Father?" he asked.

"I did. Now come in and close that door—I want to talk to you."

One step through and the door clicked shut behind him—

The blue-haired girl's cool red eyes—her bandages had been removed—were regarding him from her position on the hospital bed. Shinji suddenly found it rather difficult to breathe as he tried not to stare at her. Gendo Ikari stood up from the chair by the bed and walked over to his son, studying the fidgeting boy—and then Shinji inhaled sharply as the father wrapped the son in a warm hug.

"It's been too long since I've done this," Gendo said softly. "How are you, Shinji?"

His eyes widened…and then he shoved his father away.

"Don't pull that _shit_ with me, _Father_," Shinji snarled, clenching his fists. "You send me off to my uncle, call me back to fight some eldritch abomination and possibly _die_, and now you're trying to reconcile with me? Well, fuck you!"

Suddenly a hexagonal orange field materialized in front of him and slammed forward, hurling Shinji into the wall. The girl had sat up, icy fury roiling in her narrowed eyes.

"You will not speak to the Commander in that manner," she hissed, conjuring another orange field in her hand.

Shinji's eyes narrowed. "And what right do you have in telling me how I should speak to my father?" he growled. "You have no idea what I went through in my childhood, because of _him_."

The girl clenched her fists, but Gendo stepped in between the two.

"Both of you calm _down_!" the Commander of NERV snapped. "And Rei, using your AT field for personal purposes is _strictly_ non-regulation. Do _not_ do so again, is that clear?"

The boy and the girl glared at each other, gritted their teeth, and nodded, neither being calm enough to speak without exploding at each other.

"Anyways," Gendo growled. "Shinji, this is Rei Ayanami, the pilot of Unit 00. Rei, this is my son, Shinji Ikari, now the pilot of Unit 01."

"It is nice to meet you, Mr. Ikari," Rei ground out, still glaring at Shinji.

"Same here, Miss Ayanami," Shinji said through clenched teeth.

The commander sighed and rubbed his forehead. "What's happened to you, Shinji?" he muttered. "You used to be such a friendly boy…"

"I stopped being friendly the second _somebody_ dumped me at my uncle's house without anything in the way of a goodbye!" Shinji retorted. "Some father you are!"

Rei's eyes narrowed to slits again and she raised her hand—

"What did I say about that, Rei?"

"Yes, sir," she said, sulking.

Gendo sighed again and pushed up his glasses. "With the authority vested in me as the Commander of NERV, I hereby order both of you to get along," he said. When Shinji made to protest, he raised his hand. "If you won't follow an order, Shinji, then I'll ask this as a favor of you."

"You've got no right to ask any favors from me," Shinji pointed out.

"Would it help if I told you that Rei was your sister?"

Silence. Both Rei and Shinji gaped at the commander.

"That is—that is impossible!" Ayanami protested, pointing at Shinji. "I bear no resemblance to Ikari whatsoever, Commander!"

But Shinji wasn't thinking about family resemblance. The boy's fists quaked as he struggled to control another outburst; as much as he hated to admit it, his father was right—he'd never been so violent or vocal in his life until now. Where had the old, quiet Shinji gone?

And then outrage consumed the self-reflection.

"You were going to send your _daughter_ out to _die_ in my place?" Shinji's voice was deadly quiet.

"_You_ weren't cooperating," Gendo replied coldly. "What choice did I have?"

_Damn him. Damn him to hell, the manipulative bastard._

Gendo left the room, gently shutting the door behind him as he went. Shinji just glared at the metal door as if he could burn holes in it with the force of his anger.

More silence in the room.

"Why did you speak in my defense when you insulted the Commander earlier?" Ayanami asked.

"He ordered us to get along, didn't he?" Shinji said.

Rei was expressionless again. "I hold great respect for the commander," she said coolly. "As should you, _brother_."

But Shinji was already halfway out the door. "Try convincing me to do that when you've got a good reason why, _sister_."

**M: ER~**

The twelve monoliths flickered to life in a rainbow of holographic coloring. Each was marked with a number from 01 to 06. Each monolith had a pair of eyes glaring at him through his amber sunglasses. Each looked extremely angry.

Gendo knew that last was purely for show.

"Good morning, gentlemen," the Supreme Commander of NERV stated. "Did you call for me?"

"We did," the first throne said. "We wished to congratulate you on a stunning victory over the Third Angel."

The commander's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. 'Stunning'? Did these arrogant old men have no faith in NERV's ability against the Angels? Had they doubted his son would defeat the Third Angel?

"Thank you," Gendo replied in a guarded tone.

"However, the Third Child was severely damaged and the Evangelion itself is still undergoing a refit," the third throne declared. "If the Fourth Angel attacked us now, we would be annihilated."

Severely damaged? What did these men think of Shinji as, some kind of robot?

"In addition, the Third Child was there for Unit 01's first startup," the fifth throne continued. "Just more of the same, am I right?"

"Repairing and retrieving Unit 01 was a huge and unanticipated cost," the sixth throne growled. "Compared to a frozen Unit 00, that is hardly a problem," Gendo retorted. It was taking him all of his admittedly low patience to not raise his voice above a courteous tone. How had Yui stood these bastards?

The first throne stepped in. "Regardless of inconveniences, Unit 01 should have performed until at least the Fifth Angel."

"Don't worry," Gendo said. "Unit 01 isn't our only weapon; Unit 02's pilot is currently being evaluated in Germany."

"The construction of Unit 03 is also proceeding as planned," the second throne added.

"Observing NERV and Evangelion with discretion is your primary duty, Commander Ikari," the fourth throne said. "We will not stand for further failures."

"That's right," the fifth throne said. "Extermination of the Angels is but one step in fulfilling our contract with Lilith."

"To execute the Human Instrumentality Project is our final goal," the first throne said.

"I understand," Gendo replied softly. "Everything will go according to SEELE's scenario."

**M: ER~**

"Like I said, Shinji would be much better off at my place," Misato said. "Yes, I've gotten authorization from above. Don't worry; it's not like I'll have my hands all over him."

"That goes without saying!" Ritsuko barked, making Misato cringe. "If it's going to be like that, then—"

"Geez, I was just kidding," Misato grumbled, rolling her eyes at her best friend's self-righteousness. "Ritz can't take a joke at all…"

The next thing Shinji knew, he was in the back seat of Katsuragi's car as the lights of a highway tunnel flashed by.

"Alright, it looks like we're having a party tonight!" Misato cheered, glancing back at her young charge.

Shinji raised an eyebrow. "What for?"

"It's a welcoming party," Misato grinned. "You're a new member of the family, after all—my new roommate!"

And once again, as if life had a remote control and somebody had pressed the fast-forward button, the drive to the supermarket blurred into a series of lights and cars and grey concrete and metal before the Alpine Renault pulled up into the parking lot.

As he and Misato waited in line at the register, Shinji could hear a group of women discussing a rather familiar topic.

"Oh, so you're going to move?"

"Yes, I never thought this city would become a battlefield…"

"Really? My husband says we should evacuate soon. Just today over a hundred people left the city."

Another woman sighed. "No matter how powerful a fortress this city is, that NERV organization still doesn't know what they're doing."

"Just thinking about yesterday makes me shudder…"

_NERV organization._

_Doesn't know what they're doing._

_Father is the commander of NERV._

_They're saying that Father doesn't know what he's—_

It took Shinji a moment to realize that his clenched right hand was warping the metal of the shopping cart's basket. The boy immediately released the damaged cart, but took a long look at it. Had he really done that—twisted the stainless steel out of rage over the insult to NERV?

And why would he have taken offense, anyways? His father had abandoned him, been cruel to him, attempted to worm his way out of what he'd done in the past.

Misato bit her lip as she stared down at Shinji's forlorn expression.

**M: ER~**

He's not her brother. If he was, then he'd hold more respect for his father, the commander. If he was, then the commander would not stop her from disciplining him.

Rei huffed and tossed her sketchbook onto her bed. Dr. Akagi had ordered her to spend at least an hour a day drawing something, _anything_, to improve her manual dexterity, but it was times like these when the blue-haired girl couldn't concentrate.

Shinji Ikari was an _enigma_, and Ayanami's hardwired response to enigmas was to vivisect them and conveniently forget the anesthesia—but the Commander wouldn't let her, at least not this time.

Why?

Was it because Shinji is his son?

She knew through extrapolation that her being Ikari's sister would make her the Commander's daughter, but she doesn't care that the commander has never told her this, has never seen fit to trust her with that information. She can "deal with that", as she has heard Captain Katsuragi say.

She only cares about why she is not allowed to harm Shinji Ikari. True, she was given an order to get along with him and she'll follow it, but at the same time she has to question its purpose—

"Rei? Are you in there?" somebody called from beyond the door. "May I come in?"

Captain Katsuragi…

Ayanami rose from her chair and strode to the door, unlocking and opening it to reveal Misato Katsuragi. "Can I help you, Captain?" Rei asked.

"I just dropped by to tell you that Shinji's living with me," Misato replied. "So if you need him, just swing by my place."

The blue-haired girl frowned. "Would he not live with his father, the Commander?"

"Commander Ikari's got a one-bedroom apartment," Misato said, shrugging. "But Shinji thought that that was a lame excuse and yelled at him. Again."

Rei's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"I also believed that the Commander told you not to hurt Shinji," Misato remarked in an even tone. She was all too aware that the boy himself was waiting outside in the parking lot of Rei's apartment complex. Hopefully Ayanami would not jump out the window and attack Shinji; the girl certainly had the capability, if not the willingness.

"He did."

"Are you going to follow that order?"

"I will."

"How can I trust you?"

Rei was thrown by that one—she had always followed orders, always carried out assigned tasks without complaint, never once disobeyed…so why would Captain Katsuragi not trust her?

Misato sighed and scratched her head. "I can see that you can't really understand why I asked, so I'll just leave you alone now," Katsuragi said. "Here's a hint: you're too protective of the Commander."

With that the EVA Operations Commander walked away to the elevator and left Rei alone with her musings. The girl returned to her chair and pondered the captain's words.

She was too protective of the Commander? Whatever did that mean?

Rei shook her head. She could think about this later; she had a standing order to carry out right now.

That was when she saw that she'd drawn a rather strange image—a thing composed of spheres and cylinders, with big domed boots, gunmetal grey skin, and a golden halo over its head. It wore red sunglasses and had a thick beard, much like the Commander's. It also appeared to be staring into her eyes.

Huh. Maybe her medication was wearing off.

**M: ER~**

"I think your things have already been delivered," Misato said as she and Shinji walked towards her apartment. "To be honest, I just moved here recently as well."

The captain slid her keycard through the lock. The door slid open with a gentle _hiss_. "So, come on in."

"I'm sorry for having to trouble you like this, Miss Misato," Shinji murmured, rubbing the back of his head.

Misato chuckled. "No worries, Shinji," she replied with a winning smile. "This is your home now."

He smiled back hesitantly. Then he lifted his foot over the divide between the tiled floor of the apartment and the concrete balcony—forced down the uncertainty—and set the foot back down.

"I'm home," Shinji whispered, smiling genuinely now.

"Welcome home," Misato said softly.

And then he saw the utter state of chaos "home" was in and his jaw nearly fell to the ground. Misato chuckled nervously as she caught sight of the shocked expression on her charge's face.

"Yeah, it's kind of messy," she said, scratching the back of her head. "Don't you mind that…"

Shinji's only response was a choked squeak as he gazed at the mountains of discarded beer cans and liquor bottles. "_Kind of_ messy?" he muttered, shaking his head. "More like FUBAR messy…"

Misato's teeth ground together. "I heard that!" she snapped. "By the way, there's food in the refrigerator if you want some."

The boy was wise enough to not voice his opinions regarding the edibility of said food and instead just began clearing trash away so they'd have enough space to eat. When he was done he checked the refrigerator for the details of his guardian's dietary habits.

First drawer. "Ice."

Second drawer. "Junk food. Lots of it."

Third drawer. "Endless cans of beer."

"What kind of life does she lead?" Shinji sighed, before turning to the grocery bags. Maybe that was why they'd gone to the supermarket in the first place…

Ten minutes later, Shinji and Misato were seated at the dinner table. He was still wearing his school uniform, but she had changed into a pair of cutoffs that accentuated her legs and a yellow tank top that emphasized her cleavage. Shinji was doing his best to not stare at either displays of his guardian's gorgeous figure.

"This stuff isn't bad for instant food," Misato remarked, leaning forward. "What's the matter? Not hungry?"

"Um, well, I'm just not used to this kind of food," Shinji replied, shrugging helplessly. "I'm sorry…"

Misato slammed her beer down on the table. "No way!" she yelled. "You can't be so picky!"

Somewhat intimidated, Shinji shrank back. "No, that's not it," he said hastily. "It's just that…umm…"

Her expression morphed from an annoyed snarl to an amused smile. "So that's it, huh? You're just not used to eating with other people," she observed. "You have to admit, it's kind of fun, isn't it?"

He shrugged again. "It's a novel experience. That's all I can say."

"Alright then," Misato grinned. "Since this is your home now, you have to start acting like it."

"Okay…"

"Oh come on, don't be boring," she yawned, crossing her arms. "It's yes, yes, yes all the fucking time with you."

And then he gritted his teeth as her hand grabbed a fistful of his hair and began jerking it around. It wasn't even remotely painful, but it was taking all his self-restraint to not defend himself.

"You're a boy!" Misato scolded. "Pull yourself together!"

"Okay, okay…"

She smirked. "Good," she sang. "Well, I'm off to take a shower now."

When she was out of earshot, Shinji glared daggers at the bathroom door and finished what he'd been saying.

"…crazy bitch…"

**M: ER~**

Fucking…A…hurt…

_Oh finally!_

The tiny pinpoint of light spotted its host and instantly accelerated towards the Grey Being, unnoticed by the dozens of technicians working on the repairs of what the Lilim dubbed Evangelion Unit 01. The energy being's wake left ripples behind it as reality repaired the damage wrought to the space-time continuum left by the Avatar's unreality generator; several seconds of agony later, he found the core of the Grey Being, and relaxed as his essence crumbled and melded into EVA-01's nervous system.

_Damnit, why'd the medical wing have to be so far away from the hangar? I swear, NERV is a fucking labyrinth. _

Hank may have been a near-omnipotent Avatar, a spawn of the Seed of Madness, but distance and time still applied to his quantum state form. Energy did not move—it flowed, but it did not physically move. As such, he had to sacrifice some of the unreality keeping him in existence in order to survive and travel outside his host. The human equivalent to what he'd just done was ripping off an arm in order to walk a hundred meters.

_Damnit_, Hank growled again. _A00, you there?_

Off to EVA-01's left, a certain orange-clad cyclopean head rose slightly at the summons.

_Yes._

_I saw your work. It's crap._

_I would appreciate it if you did not refer to my modifications of User Ikari as Lilim fecal matter._

_I don't really give a damn. What the hell was making his daddy want to reconcile with him all about? I asked to make him more confident, not to make this sunshine and rainbows._

_You forget our mission parameters. We are to prevent a theoretical Quantum Sentience Meld Entity Evolutionary Effect._

_You mean a Third Impact._

_That is Lilim terminology. Why are you using Lilim terminology?_

_It's called going native._

_Call it what you wish. My reasons for making this, as you refer to it as, "sunshine and rainbows" for User Ikari is to ensure that User Ikari does not make the wrong decision and initiate a Quantum Sentience—_

_Just say Third Impact, A00. You'll find that to be a lot easier than "Quantum Sentience Meld Entity Evolutionary Effect". Who even uses the technical jargon, anyways?_

_Alright, then. As I was saying, I am trying to make User Ikari content with his life so that he does not see fit to complete a Quantum Sentience…a Quantum…a Third Impact and destroy the cause of his pain: the human race._

_That's solid reasoning, but Ikari was swearing seven shades of violence at his father just now, in your User's hospital room. So yeah._

The other Avatar was silent for a moment.

_Hm. It appears that I have underestimated the depths of User Ikari's mental trauma and his resentment towards his progenitor._

_No, really? With all the poor kid's gone through, I'm surprised he isn't a total emotional wreck right now. Well, of course we gave him a confidence boost, but still._

_I admit that I expected him to turn out more like User Sohryu after the modifications._

_It's amazing how much fortitude a Lilim can acquire when they have something to focus on, huh?_

_Indeed. _

Another moment of silence passed.

_So now what? You've already completed emulation of your Grey Being, right?_

_I have, but I am waiting until a suitable opportunity to reveal myself to my User._

_Let me guess. Ramiel?_

_Your hypothesis is correct._

_No copying what I pulled between Ikari and Sachiel._

_And what jurisdiction do you have over my actions?_

_Copyrights._

_Hank. You are a quantum state entity. An energy being cannot complete the required paperwork, much less submit a patent. In small words that you may or may not understand: you will not even be able to pick up a pen and write._

_I could ask Ikari to do it._

Silence for a moment.

_That is…a good point. But then again, how will you incarcerate an intangible being?_

Still more silence, this time on Hank's side of the telepathic conversation.

_Good point._

But unbeknownst to either Avatar, Lieutenant Maya Ibuki printed out the requested readouts of EVA-00 and EVA-01's abnormal neural activity and tossed the papers into Dr. Akagi's inbox on the way out of headquarters.

**M: ER~**

Yes, some of the characters' personalities have been changed. Shinji can be angry; I decided to use his more lively personality from the manga and added in the parkour for important scenes later on. Gendo can be protective; the why will be revealed later. Rei is…mostly the same, except for the fact that she can actually show emotion. OMG!

Please review! (and kudos to you if you spotted the two _NGE: Nobody Dies_ references in this chapter) And thanks for all your reviews to Chapter 1!


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